Telecommunication has become an indispensable tool of information and communication today, especially when times are eclipsed by difficulties such as the pandemic, but Samarchhu under Tsenda-Gang Gewog in Dagana has been left-out for decades now.
Just about three hours’ drive from the gewog station, the remotest chiwog in the dzongkhag not even have a proper mobile network. The village, with over 60 households and some 300 people, was connected with the Tashi Cell network more than a decade ago, but people say it is not reliable.
”We have the TashiCell network, but it is not reliable. It is difficult to communicate with people as the conversation gets cut in the middle of a call,’’ said Dhan Kumar, a local of Samarchhu.
And now, people are demanding reliable B-Mobile network services. One of the locals Bimal Subba, said since they are located far from the gewog center, they depend on social media for information, but the poor network service is less delivering.
He said, ”TashiCell network is poor, but we don’t have the B-Mobile network at all.’’
In times like today, where regular education has become online learning, it is more difficult for the school going children to cope up with the network issues.
”My children attend online classes but without a reliable mobile network, it is a problem for us. We have TashiCell network with 3G internet service, but it gives problem,’’ said Phat Bdr Subba.
With no immediate plans of setting-up any B-Mobile tower, the problem is there to stay a bit longer. However, it is likely that the Rural Communication Programme, initiated by the Bhutan Infocomm and Media Authority, BICMA, will cover the village in its funding to set-up mobile towers. Moreover, TashiCell also plans to establish an additional tower in the village soon.
Until then, the compromising days for villagers will linger.
Pema Tshewang
